Horus Heresy - Raven Guard

Over the last year I was not able to play as many miniatures games as I may have like, but I was able to do a lot of painting. As you can see in my blog posts from the last year I was all over the place with what I was working on, Six Days War, Battletech, Epic 40k, Star Wars Armada, and a great deal of 28mm fantasy miniatures that I haven't posted anything on. In the past I had done mostly 15mm Flames of War WWII miniatures, but with the lack of players in the area now, I have been working on other projects that are mainly hobby projects as opposed to painting armies for gaming.

My Raven Guard force as it currently stands.

So to start off 2016 right lets take a look at another totally new hobby project, Warhammer 30k! As you may have read in the past I am not a huge fan of Games Workshop and some of their rules and business practices. However I love the Horus Heresy books and fluff and with the new plastic Betrayal at Calth miniatures I decided to jump in.

As I mentioned above, I really enjoy the Horus Heresy stories, and especially the the idea of such potential lost with Horus' betrayal. If you haven't ever read and of the Horus Heresy books by Black Library I strongly recommend them. I lean towards the loyalist space marine legions and mainly the three that took part in, or were the victims, of the Istvaan V massacre. The first miniatures I began working on are for the Raven Guard Legion, masters of hit and run and decapitation strikes. I wanted to represent a devastated Raven Guard force retreating from the Dropsite Massacre.

A ten man Tactical Squad.

I really enjoy the mix of armor Mk's.

The Tactical Squad Sergeant. He is a total BA.

First off I have a ten man tactical squad, all have boltguns with a mixture of different marks of Space Marine armor, some have Mk III, Mk IV and Mk VI. The Sergeant has powerfist and boltpistol.

The Assault Squad is a real mix and match of different kits.

These guys are out for blood.

The Veteran Sergeant with a Emperors Children shoulder pad.

Two of the squad have powerswords.

Next up is a ten man Assault Squad, also with a mix of armor types. The sergeant has a powerfist and older Mk III armor.

Plasma for any enemy Terminators.

Nothing like a weapon that can kill the shooter.

I ordered some extra plasmagun bits from ebay and made a five man Support Squad.

I added a nice friendly albino Raven to ride on his shoulder.

Above is the excellent plastic Contemptor Dreadnought from the Betrayal at Calth box set. I really like this model and was able to pick it up on ebay for less than $20. I also magnetized the arms so I can switch them out.

The Centurion with the Raven's Talons.

I have a few Raven Guard shoulder pads from FW.

I did a headswap for the Praetor and a custom sword.

To round things off I have a few Raven Guard characters, a Centurion, a Praetor, and an Apothecary. The Centurion has dual lightning claws and a jumppack. The Praetor has a plasma pistol and a paragon blade, I added a crest to his Mk VI helmet. The last is an Apothecary made from random bits I had laying around, this ad hoc look fits as most of the Raven Guard Apothecaries were killed in the Dropsite Massacre.

I am debating about getting some Raven Guard transfers but the only way to get them is through Forgeworld... and that is expensive. I doubt I will ever play any games of 40k with these miniatures as I don't have any interest in the game, but I do like the look of some of the Zone Mortalis games I've seen played.